It is what it is, Gary!

Good post, Ambarish.

“There are 5 stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.”

You’ve learnt all 5 so quick into your marriage. Acceptance is the hardest, you can put it off, but in the end they always win. I learned in the end that acceptance is the art of getting the wife to think your idea was hers. 🙂

You’re right, though, Gary Neville is as anal as they come. He’s not a complete idiot; just Arsenal phobic still suffering from PTSD when we won the league at Manure and they had to clap us running out at Old Trafford. Warms the cockles of your heart those memories.

AsI indicated in my last post this morning about the game and the issues surrounding going for the double and missing both.

Problem is Ambarish Ten Hag will have United in the mix next season, which will be his full 2nd season and Ten Hag will bring in quality players in the summer. The evidence is there he has the beginnings of an identity working.

Potter will have Chelsea playing as a team next season. City will want to improve as a matter of course.

The PL is going to be scintillating next season with the rebuilding and managerial changes being more settled.

We have to keep up with the aforementioned clubs with squad quality and much better squad management than this and previous seasons.

Right now we have the squad to win the league or the Euro Cup – not both. For me and Junior it’s the league or bust.

I tend to be a bit more phlegmatic about stuff like this. Arsenal is in the title conversation for the first time in years. Neville keeps himself relevant by saying stuff like this and his comments are meant to provoke. It helps him get ‘work’ spouting opinions for a living. If we don’t welcome it, we should certainly acknowledge it as a sign of our current success and the possibility that there might be a whole lot more awaiting us.

Neville, in that respect, is not unlike many others who understand the media e.g. Piers Cunty Morgan (who calls himself a Gooner!) who remains in the public eye solely by being controversial, and even if they don’t actually believe the shit they’re ejaculating.

If Nev’s wrong about us, he still gets media appearances. If he’s right, he still gets media appearances and boosts himself by saying ‘I told you so’. He’s a prick, but a rich and successful one in the awful world of media.

In essence, we’re in the conversation for a change. It comes with the territory.

That said, a great piece Ambarish. Be good to hear from some of the readers what they think.

I’m soooooo glad the Fulham is on TV for the first time in weeks.

Tony

Hahaha, noted.

G Neville, as KP pointed out, is just looking out for attention. Makes him money, keeps him in highlights.

just a quick thought regading the Neville situation, which largely reiterates the sentiments of those wise posters above….if he’s talking about us either we’re an unmitigated shit show or challenging for things…for many years it’s been more of the former, but thankfully this season the latter applies…so keep talking Gary, as it seems to be a motivating force LOL…otherwise I have no real issue with him as he’s a former United player and ciurrent thirsty pundit, so he does exactly what I would expect of him

Tony—if you haven’t read any Neal Stephenson I would greatly suggest you venture down that literary path…there’s levels to this juggernaut of an author, from the less labour intensive Reamde, to one of my favorite reads ever, Cryptonomicon, then for those looking to challenge themselves even further, Anathem…Cheers

It’s coming on our cost, so someone had to resort.. He is famous enough to be featured on LiR lol, one full article 😂

Ambarish
Hi mate. I’m not sure exactly where the quote comes from in the headline to this piece, but could I ask that we henceforth have a stylistic rule on LiR.

Can we pleeeeeeeese ban the phrase ‘it is what it is’. It drives me nuts. Does anyone know where it comes from or what it meanz? I used to assume it was something they said in the Sopranos (or maybe that was ‘bada bing’). It’s as bad as using ‘literally’ (someone once told me they were literally sweating their bollocks off) or ‘iconic’ (an iconic header by Harry Kane etc.).

One more point on ex-players becoming media icons (oooh fuck, I’m doing it now). Manure fans love Neville, Ferdinando and Keane etc., Liverpool has Carragher, Souness and the awful Michael Owen. We have Ian Wright and Dixon. They’re there to annoy others and stir up what might be otherwise boring games. Rent-a-twat in other words – except Wrighty and Dicko of course.

A propos of which. Fuck the right wing wankers at the BBC. And well done Ian Wright for getting out of match of the day.

This might finally help to lift the lid on pernicious tory control over the UK’s so-called national broadcaster. Britain really is becoming a nasty racist Banana Republic.

KP—I concur with your disdain for that phrase as it’s become some sort of catch-all response to anything that one might find displeasing or frustrating…it’s kind of replaced phrases like “what the fuck can you do” or ‘c’est la vie” or even “water under the bridge”, but just a smidge more passive aggressive…I will be elated when this phrase finally wears out it’s welcome, which should have happened some 2 or 3 years ago…maybe it’s hung on longer due to the brain numbing covid period, where it seemed like all people could talk about was Donald fucking Trump, the Chinese wet market/Lab, Boris’s indiscretions and/or any thing lockdown related, which all lend themselves to the phrase “it is what it is” or conversely shooting yourself in the head

big ups to LIneker, Wrighty and all those who wouldn’t cowtow to the BBC higher-ups and their gutless attempt to quash what appears to be a rather noble cause…it will be very interesting to see how this all plays out

Hi everyone.
The Neville’s highlight everything that is screwed up in this country and have far too much influence. Three of them have been involved at national level, even the sister coach of the English Netball team. Far too much sycophancy.
Well done Gary Lineker, Wrighty, Shearer and all the match commentators for walking out on MotD, the BBC are so far up this Governments backside it has become excruciating and an embarrassment.
They’ve even cancelled one of David Attenborough’s programmes because he talks of the decline of nature and who is to blame, and they are shit scared of offending their fascist right wing pay masters.
But it’s perfectly okay for Cruella to make references to the Holocaust, or use hyperbolic language like there’s 100s of millions that want to come to Britain.
If the Tory’s are hell bent on tanking this country and running off with the loot, there’ll be nothing left for any of us.
It really concerns me that the only alternative is Starmer.
Dark days.
Arsenal need to give us some respite and win the PL title for all of us long suffering Gooners.

Herb—at least he’s an Arsenal supporter…I get why some might hesitate at the notion of Starmer assuming the highest office, especially considering the state of the British economy, but I think he actually might provide some much-needed balance in light of how far the political pendulum has swung to the right…sufficed to say I have little doubt that his socialistic inklings will be greatly tempered once in office, as he would never win in such a convincing fashion that the opposition would lose their considerable influence over the affairs of the nation…of course, I don’t reside in the UK so I’m sure they’re some more nuanced components that I’m not privy to, above and beyond the Starmerism effect and the implications of “quiet radicalism”, but I’ve appreciated some of the more commonsensical decisions he’s presided over, especially those that weren’t incredibly “popular” inside or outside of his party…maybe I’m way off base though…Cheers

BBC are right wingers? Not for the Indians. Every leftist you can think, are associated with BBC here. Any of the bbc opinions pieces are against the government because Modi is considered a right winger.

‘It’s all about money’. ‘Always has been’.

Don’t agree with the ‘you signed for it’. Just because Linekar took a job at BBC, he shouldn’t be stopped in expressing his opinions on his personal social media. He didn’t sell his soul for that rumoured 2m dollars / year. He can’t say things when he is working in BBC studio, which is 9hrs/day.

This cancel culture needs to stop.

TRVL
Starmer was once an avowed Pabloite in his youth.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Pabloism

But to suggest he (still) has ‘socialist inklings’ is well wide of the mark. He’s taking Labour further to the right to capture the votes of Tories who have to hold their blue noses to protect themselves from the stink caused by the party since 2010. He does this safe in the knowledge/hope that lefties have no other voice. A pound shop Tony Blair as we’ll soon see. Funnily enough I knew him quite well in the mid 90s (played football in N London and went to Highbury together) and we used to argue the extent to which Blair had fucked the Labour movement. Believe me – Starmer is taking Labour (and therefore the UK) back to a dark place of only slightly diluted Tory Government.

Ambarish. The BBC is fucked as an independent broadcaster. It has been since the Tory party starting making existential threats to it. Sane people in Britain no longer regard it as centrist.

Herb
I couldn’t get any of my clan interested in PNE, not least because of the weather up north. I should go it alone with some blankets in case the car gets stuck, but I’m turning into a fair weather fan!

Even Modi has been tear arsing through the BBC offices in India. The organisation is weak so it hides under the wing of our right wing racist government and in return does its bidding.

I’d honestly say the last time that lefties had any kind of foothold in the BBC was in the 80s and 90s when there were some progressive political and cultural programmes for young people.

Almunia

You thinking the same as me?

Let’s get Giles, Brady and Dunphy on a plane to London for a Celtic Match of the Day. With lashings of strong cider in the green room beforehand. They’d show the cunts at the BBC how to do proper football punditry. An early St Paddy’s day special.

KP—that’s why it’s always wise to seek the opinions of others, especially those more in the know…I fully understand the complicated forces at work when one is cultivating a “broader” base, from personal experience, so it doesn’t surprise me one iota that he would be incentivized to look in some rather dark places…as such, it sounds like the best one could expect from this governmental trade-off is a lesser of two evils proposition and even that doesn’t appear to be a given…now I’ve got an itch that needs to be scratched…Cheers

Morning all – what a great blog LIR is becoming and to have morning coffee with reading good and sound debates. Kudus, Ambarish and you all: readers and posters.

Yours truly’s celebratory 18 months of no dietary controls or gym training had led to a 2 stone gain. So………….. The pain commences although I can’t complain I’m having to return to a diet rigidity for 12+ weeks and then find a happy medium to my sedentary life.

Back to the Ropes is it.

Teletubby Tony seems to be the target of mirth and merriment in this house this weekend where my daughter has decided to be my chef. No one argues with her because she’s always right; don’t you just hate that?

Remind me why we have kids?

Mrs T is loving it by orchestrating the barrage of banter. Fcuk em and it’s Go hard or Go Home until 16kg has departed my slightly obese body that now needs Demis Roussos shirts.

As for tonight’s football entertainment Paddy’s Palace are desperate for points or at least 5/12 wins to be safe. I fancy Cooper’s Forrest to push Spuds and nick point(s). Bournemouth will be playing to keep the score down against Klopp’s reinvigorated Bin Dippers. Leicester are very poor these days so a good game for Potter to improve his survival rate with an away win.

The most watchable game will probably be Leeds Vs De Zerbi’s BHA. I predict a real flat out open game of cat and mouse with 2 of the PL’s younger teams – just mho.

I guess Preston is a run long from your base, KP.

Thanks for the Neal Stephenson recommendation TRVL I’ll get a couple ordered. Like the Saladin by John Man I have another that I’m itching to find the time to read: Duty – Memoirs of a Secretary of War by Robert M Gates.

Best SAS book was by Andy Macnab I think called ‘Selection’ that and the next book were excellent of his early SAS life.

Have a good weekend lads. 🙂

KP & TRVL – Quick search revealed this:

It Is What It Is: Origin of the Phrase

Strangely, the exact origin or the moment when the phrase, “It is what it is” was first coined in the English language cannot be pinpointed. You may expect it to originate from a work of literature or poem like many common phrases, such as sayings that are actually famous quotes from Shakespeare or other renowned authors. However, that is not the case.

The earliest known written use of this phrase dates back to just 1949, according to the New York Times. The phrase appeared in a column written by J. E. Lawrence in the Nebraska State Journal.

“New land is harsh, and vigorous, and sturdy. It scorns evidence of weakness. There is nothing of sham or hypocrisy in it. It is what it is, without an apology.”

It’s unknown if Lawrence created the phrase; it is entirely possible that this saying was used in conversation before that time.

Since then, it has become a common saying in English-speaking countries. It really took off in the 1990s and through the 2000s, and today you hear it frequently in areas as diverse as sports, business and politics.

TRVL
The lesser of two seriously awful evils in the case of UK domestic politics. A lot of people I meet tend to think I’m a Labour devotee because I’m left wing which always raises a laugh. As Tony said earlier this week when talking about The Who, ‘we won’t get fooled again’.

I remember studying French in the 80s when I think there was a presidential election between Mitterrand and Chirac. They doorstepped some French bloke in a live TV interview to ask about his voting intentions. He replied, ‘Moi je vote pour le con le plus grand’ To save anyone reaching for a dictionary (Me? I’m voting for the biggest cunt’). Very gallic, very direct and honest! Our poor teacher after our disingenuous request for help, described ‘con’ as ‘twat’ but we weren’t persuaded.

Talking of la belle France Tony, any rugby prognostications to go with your sound footy analysis?

He may be a successful manager but Pep is wrong, wrong, wrong about Kyle Walker and his unequivocal support for his over-exposed genitals. 🍒🍆Moreover, it ought to be testing the high morals of the UAE owners.

How would Pep feel if Walker or someone else did it to his wife? Sleazy fuckers/sleazy cheating club.

KP & Killroy – Forgot the rugby: Italy are getting stronger each year where if Wales have put their disputes with the Welsh ‘Old Farts’ running their rugby sorted, I expect a tough game, but Wales will eventually have too much for the spaghetti warriors.

England v France is an altogether different prospect. If Eddie was still manager, I’d have said close France win. Steve Bothwick is new, but very experienced. Being at Twickers I’d say at least one French player will lose his control for a Red card and a couple of sin bins to one of ours.

It will be the team with the least penalties who will win.

There’ll be bite to this game for the coming world cup bragging rights and………… well it’s the old foe of England who once defeated France with 5000 (?) Long Bow Archers at Agincourt who I believe fired one arrow every 5 seconds with deadly accurate armor piercing power at over 200 yards. When you do the maths it’s horrific to compute.

Back then it took an archer 10 years to have the overall physique to be a Long Bowman.

It will be a ferocious game that’s too hard to call, but fantastic to watch especially for the neutrals.

What say you, KP?

It’ll be close, and not the outcome I’ll want, but I think England will still be rusty and France will win.

Praise is due to Andy 1886 for putting the numerous racist tory cunts to the sword on LG this morning. He’s just about the only sensible poster left on there. I always liked his stuff, footballistically and politically.

The others look like the small minded know-nothing reactionaries that they are. Keep on keeping on Andy.

Half of them are Pedro bots/monikers talking to himself. His latest creation is Mikel Conetta more in his other older creation’s style: Champagne Charlie or CC = Carbon Copy or some such logic. He slipped up with his American CC story a few times. When I called them out CC said he was tapping out for good.

Still, it got Pedro the St Louis gig. Helps when your dad is a millionaire from colour me shocked: the advertising industry. 🙂

I can’t complain and I don’t for one minute say that Pedro didn’t put in the hours and make the commitment you need to survive & succeed in America, but knowing a billionaire also helps.

I liked Andy1886, too. Far more grown up than BobN16 in his views.

I skim through there very quickly these days as I do online papers with no intention of posting there again.

Hi KP
You know the old adage, it’s grim up North!
Cardiff have proved they are more than capable of reaching the summit, the issue is sustaining it.
How does Ole fail dismally at Cardiff and then go on to get the United gig for three years???
Do you think the structure and resources are still in place for a realistic promotion charge within the next few years, KP?

I did not see that coming Pool losing 1:0 to bottom dwellers; Bournemouth. In fact B’mouth could be 3 up by now if Odango had his shooting boots on. Good end to end game.

L’pool look like they’ve got a hangover and can’t get out of second gear. If they don’t I see B’mouth getting more goals in the 2nd half.

What a crazy season. Next season will be insane the way things are going.

Scouser’s being given a penalty.

Scouser’s miss the pen – I’m not in any way laughing!

Tony

Agree on this season being crazy although you could argue that’s almost an understatement. I do think next season will settle down ManU will be much better, I can’t see Liverpool and Chelsea both being so bad again, the Spud’s will always be spursy the one big question is what happens to City and the FFP charges?

Hi Herb
Sadly no. Cardiff has an awful owner who makes Hicks and Gillett look competent. The club is in serious debt and the parachute payments have long since disappeared.

It’s a shame because, along with Leeds and Newcastle it’s a potentially big single club city with a massive surrounding catchment area. It’s not inconceivable to imagine there could be close-to-millennium stadium sized crowds with the right backing. The owner, Vincent Tan (from Malaysia) is clueless and pumps in enough money just to keep the club afloat. Its a shitshow that almost make Josh and merkin man look adequate.

Scouser’s miss the pen – I’m not in any way laughing!

lmao

Marc
From the big 6 getting their acts together I agree normal service is likely to resume. The playing field is slowly leveling, though, with more clubs being bought and increasing TV revenues allowing better TWs for the middle clubs.

I hope people bet against my predictions. 🙂

To play 2 consecutive matches, have a positive aggregate score of 7-1, and only have 3 points is the sort of outcome late-Wenger Arsenal used to ‘enjoy’.

KP-good one on the savvy Wenger dig…classic case of Pool shooting their proverbial load versus United and having nothing left in the chamber for the lowly seassiders…let’s hope that we aren’t next to get stung by the bizarro world bug…I would be interested to know how this season has affected gambling houses across the betting globe, maybe I should reach out to Xhaka for the “inside” scoop

Tony-read Crypto first, as it sets the tone for all future endeavours from this particular author

regardless of some of the post-move fanbase backlash, I would have loved to have seen a front 3 with Saka, Marts and Mudryk…he’s creating a lot of havoc playing up the middle against LC today…as an intelligent person never said, it is what it is LOL

How can you go from beating a pretty decent ManU who have been on the up and the week before won the League Cup final by 7 goals to losing to Bournemouth?

Crazy season doesn’t get close.

That’s a shame, KP, I didn’t realise Vincent Tan still owned the club. I remember the PR disaster and massive push back from fans when he changed the famous blue to red! A club whose nickname is ‘The Bluebirds’!
If owners have no intention of competing they should be sued under the Trade Descriptions Act, football is and always has been a competitive sport, and no football club owner should be allowed to drain a football communities hopes and dreams whilst stealing their hard earned money.
I hope the situation changes for you and Cardiff fans in the near future, KP, football is passion, you can’t buy that.

England getting schooled by France 17:0 @ 28 minutes